Grandson of Barry Allen, the second Flash, Bart Allen
has been forced to grow up fast—literally. He initially became the teen hero
Impulse, mentored by Max Mercury. He was later taken
in by the original Flash, Jay Garrick and his wife
Joan. Not long after, Bart took on the costume of Kid Flash,
spending time with the Teen Titans. Bart disappeared during
Infinite Crisis and reappeared four years older, taking up the mantle of the Flash until he was killed by the Rogues.
Restored to life by the Legion of Super-Heroes, Bart is once again the fastest teen alive.

Detailed History

Impulse

Bart inherited super-speed from his grandfather, Barry Allen, but his hyperaccelerated metabolism resulted in an accelerated growth rate. To keep him from going insane, scientists placed him in a virtual reality that kept pace with his own scale of time. Eventually it became clear that their efforts were not helping, so Bart’s grandmother Iris took him to the 20th Century to consult her nephew, Wally West. Wally knew from experience the practicalities of super-speed in the field, unlike the scientists who had only observed it in the laboratory. Wally forced Bart into an extreme burst of speed that shocked his system into normalcy—he retained his speed, but his accelerated growth rate dropped to normal.

Because of Bart’s childhood in VR, he had no concept of danger and rarely thought ahead, acting completely on impulse. This earned him his nickname (Batman called it a “warning”—see Who Named Impulse?). Wally wasn’t suited to be a mentor, so Max Mercury became Bart’s guardian and trainer. They moved to Manchester, Alabama, where bart attended middle school, made friends, and (of course) fought super-criminals as Impulse.

Bart is also something of a time anomaly. Though his parents only met in post-Zero Hour continuity, he arrived in the present day before the event hit. He has since displayed immunity to time alterations; he weathered Extant’s manipulations of the timeline (Impulse: Bart Saves the Universe, 1999) and remembered Linda Park even after her disappearance (Impulse #1,000,000, 1998 & Flash #152, 1999). Even worse, the 31st century he knows no longer exists. (Teen Titans/Legion Special, 2004).

During a trip to the 31st Century (Impulse #75, 2001; see Dark Tomorrow), Bart was blasted by an experimental hyper-ray intended to give ordinary people super-speed. Instead it gave him the ability to create “scouts,”** energy-like avatars of himself which he could then send through the timestream, then absorb their memories when they returned. After one of his scouts was killed on Apokolips (Impulse #77) and the psychic feedback sent him into shock, he was extremely reluctant to use his new power.

Bart has used it only twice since then: once, unwillingly, when the genie Bedlam used his scouts to create a “World Without Young Justice” (Young Justice #44–45, Impulse #85, etc., 2002), and later to rescue his mother and his friend Carol from the 63rd Century. In light of later events, it is extremely likely that Bart no longer has this ability.

Kid Flash

Max disappeared, and Bart moved to Keystone City to live with Jay and Joan Garrick. After a series of traumas—Carol’s and Max’s disappearances, Bart’s near-death experience on Apokolips, the deaths of Lilith and Troia and dissolution of the Titans and Young Justice, and finally being shot in the knee by Deathstroke—Bart decided to reinvent himself. He read every book in the San Francisco public library, and wove together a new costume, calling himself not Impulse, but Kid Flash (Teen Titans #1–5, 2003).

Crisis

When Bart, Wally and Jay attempted to trap the murderous Superboy-Prime in the Speed Force, Bart found himself facing a monster alone. Jay fell behind, and Wally was pulled out of this reality. Bart managed to force Superboy-Prime as far as the edge of the speed force, at which point the heroes trapped there—Barry, Max, and Johnny Quick—took over, pulling Superboy inside.

The Flashes held Superboy imprisoned in the speed force for years until he escaped. Bart followed, and spent four years in an alternate world. When Superboy escaped, Bart pursued, the time difference between dimensions bringing in back only hours or days after he left. To the rest of the world, he aged four years in an eyeblink (Infinite Crisis, 2006). After the battle, he claimed he had used up the last of his speed, leaving him powerless.

Flash: One Year Later

Suddenly older than his friends, unable to remember his missing years, and harboring a secret—that the speed force was still around, and threatened to overwhelm him—Bart set about creating a normal, mundane life for himself. He got a job as a factory worker at Keystone Motors and tried to leave super-heroics behind him...but it’s difficult to walk away from that kind of life, no matter how fast you run.

When his roommate gained super-powers and became the Griffin, Bart was forced to accept his legacy. He discovered that he had absorbed the speed force, and began learning how to control the power. Following in the footsteps of his cousin and grandfather, Bart Allen became the Flash. Not long after defeating the Griffin, the latest Flash moved to Los Angeles to start a new chapter in his life. As a civilian, Bart began training at the Los Angeles Police Academy, focusing on forensics.

Bart was tragically killed while battling the Rogues and Inertia. His clone had cut him off from the speed force, and several of the Rogues—particularly Captain Cold, Heat Wave and Weather Wizard—blasted him (Flash: TFMA #13, 2007). A public funeral service was held at a Keystone City stadium. The city shut down for the day. Jay Garrick, Cyborg, Robin and Wonder Girl spoke, and the Titans played a farewell video Bart had recorded after he was shot (Countdown #43, 2007).

The 31st Century Legion of Super-Heroes sent a team back in time to collect Bart's essence in a set of “lightning rods” later using them, along with multiple lightning-powered heroes and Bart's cousin XS on a cosmic treadmill to resurrect him. He returned once again a teenager, wearing his Kid Flash costume (Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #3, 2009).

Relationships

Because of his accelerated growth and virtual-reality upbringing, Bart remained childlike when he first arrived in the present. While with the New Titans he briefly had a crush on Rose Wilson (Deathstroke’s daughter, who later became the Ravager), but it never went anywhere. During his time in Manchester he did eventually start a relationship with his best friend, Carol Bucklen, but forces beyond their control interrupted that before it really got started. Alternate futures have shown him romantically involved with both women: Carol in “Dark Tomorrow,” and Rose in “Titans Tomorrow.”

Bart’s first adult relationship was a brief fling with Valerie Perez, a former intern at STAR Labs. After a matter of weeks, she broke it off.

Team Memberships

As Impulse, Bart joined the New Titans when the team was sponsored by Checkmate (1994–1996). After that team dissolved, he went on to be a founding member of Young Justice, staying with that group until it dissolved (1998–2003). He then accepted an invitation to join the new, training-focused Teen Titans (2003–2006). He changed his name and costume to Kid Flash while on a mission for this team, and he was a member until he disappeared in Infinite Crisis (2006).

Bart did not join any teams during his career as the Flash.

Alternate Futures

It has long been clear that Bart would succeed Wally as the fourth Flash. Here are glimpses of some other possible futures he could have had.

* The first hint that Barry Allen had a grandson came in a backup story in Legion of Super-Heroes #17 (April 1991)
covering the pre-Zero Hour fate of the Tornado Twins (framed for treason and executed).
A mention is made of Don’s son, Barry II.
(See the notes on the Tornado Twins entry for more information.)

** Bart’s scouts look similar to the future Impulse from Young Justice #1,000,000 (1998).

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